'Nobody's Child' poses hard questions

Inergi CEO Austin Boyd talks about his newest novel, "Nobody's Child," which will be released by Zondervan press Monday. Boyd will be signing Monday, Aug. 1, 2011, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble on Carl T. Jones Parkway in Jones Valley. (The Huntsville Times/Michael Mercier)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- On a West Virginia farm, tucked at the bottom of a jug of land shaped like a human uterus by a nearly encircling creek, a young woman makes a desperate decision to save the homestead that has been in her family for generations.

Huntsville engineer, inventor, retired Navy pilot and nuclear officer Austin Boyd's newest novel, to be released by Zondervan Press Monday, explores all the troubles that explode from Laura Ann McGehee's decision to sell a bit of herself, her ova, to raise money to stave off a rapacious uncle seeking to seize the farm.

Planned as the first of a four-book Pandora Files series on bio-ethics issues, "Nobody's Child" looks at the unintended consequences and potential confusions arising from human egg and sperm donations.

But the technical bio-medical questions arise in the pages of a riveting story of determination, faith, and love.

"You can't give someone a textbook on bio-ethics and say, 'Go read this book,'" Boyd said last week, taking a break from preparing a proposal presentation at Inergi, the design company in Huntsville for which he is chief executive officer. "But people will watch a movie or read a novel. I want people to wrestle with these ideas. Just because we can do these things, should we? I'm just saying, 'Think about it.'"

At last, hope

Boyd, who is an active member of First Baptist Church and as a volunteer on the board of Choose Life of North Alabama, has penned the story as a way to start conversations. For most of his book, he keeps his own opinions hidden from the lives of the characters he has created, who are battling their way through heart-wrenching dilemmas.

His sincere belief that humans do best to follow God's natural plan, however, is not the most important belief the book communicates. Boyd's central belief gets expressed by his characters when they stop to consider God's plan. Then they find, just as Pandora found the gem of hope at the bottom of all of her mythological troubles, the love and grace of God.

"Whatever we've done," Laura Ann says to Sophia in one of the book's most gripping conversations, when both women have confessed the regrets of their actions to the other, "God hasn't given up on us."

Boyd's research for the book was guided by experts at the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity near Chicago, which analyzes bio-ethical issues from a conservative Christian viewpoint. The Center's voice is heard most clearly in the testimony of one of the reproductive experts called to testify in a court scene near the end of the book.

"Women are not being told about the seriously health impact and long-term effects of donating their eggs," Boyd said. "The business is targeting college women who are short on cash and short on insight."

Through walls

The new series expands on some of the sub-plots of Boyd's technological Mars Hill Classified trilogy, which follows the lives of an astronaut and his wife in a chaotic world. One of the books of that series was a finalist for a Christy Gold Medal, Christian publishing's highest award for fiction.

Boyd, himself a finalist to be a U.S. astronaut several times, carves time to write around long work weeks at Inergi. His religious allegory, "H2O," will be released by AMG Publishers in November. All of the proceeds of that book will benefit ministries supported by AMG, which include supporting children in desperate situations around the world.

In "Nobody's Child," Boyd brought his writing skills to the real earth, attempting to recreate the sights and smells of the West Virginia of his childhood. Unlike the Mars Hill Trilogy, which includes dozens of characters racing through one emergency after another, "Nobody's Child" pares the main characters to less than 10. And while there is still plenty of action in the plot - a flood, arson, domestic violence, prostitution, the awful uncle, a child custody fight and death - in "Nobody's Child," Boyd consciously slows down to consider how things look and smell more.

The slower pace allows the land itself to blossom for the reader. And the slower pace also contributes to the book's ability to provoke deep thinking.

'Nobody's Child' by Austin Boyd

"The first thing people do when they get in a tough situation is to throw up their defensive wall and declare, 'This is my belief,'" Boyd said. "But I believe if you pose a good question, you penetrate walls."

Book signing

Austin Boyd will be signing books Monday, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., at Barnes & Noble on Bailey Cove. A portion of all sales in that location, including coffee, sold Monday and Tuesday will be donated to the literacy charity designated by Boyd, which will be the English as a Second Language classes at First Baptist Church in Huntsville, where Boyd's wife is a volunteer teacher.

Boyd is available to speak about writing, bio-ethics, Islam, leadership and personal accountability. Information at www.AustinBoyd.com.